Nyéléni Europe Movement for Food Sovereignty

The Nyéléni Europe is the widest international network aiming to realise Food Sovereignty in Europe. By bringing together farmers, consumers, NGOs, Trade unions, Environmental and Development Organizations, the Nyéléni Europe Movement is aiming to build common strategies in order to re-organize the way how we organize our society around food and agriculture today.  
 
The first step in the Nyéléni history was the first forum in Mali in 2007 where the six principles of the Nyéléni Forum and the Nyéléni Declaration were prepared. These documents became our common basis to prepare the European Forum.
In Krems, more than 400 people from 34 different European countries came together. All the participants who took part to this Forum share the opinion that until now it has been the most dynamic space that have been constructed for experience-sharing and discussions about Food Sovereignty.

The Forum was articulated around the following five thematic axes

• Axis 1 - Changing how food is produced and consumed
• Axis 2 - Changing how food is distributed
• Axis 3 - Valuing and improving work and social conditions in food and agriculture systems
• Axis 4 - Reclaiming the right to our Commons
• Axis 5 - Changing public policies governing our food and agricultural systems

These five thematic axes provide the basics for working in the European Nyéléni Movement.

The results from Krems are the Nyéléni Europe Declaration, and the Synthesis Report and Action Plan. The Declaration outlines our common visions and commitments to realize Food Sovereignty in Europe. The Action Plan was prepared in order to put our visions in practice. This document is organized around three keywords: Transform, Resist and Build. We transform the current agricultural system, resist the agro-industrial Food System and build the Movement for FS in Europe.

There are many ways to work towards our common objective. One is to organize ourselves at a local level in the different European countries. Last summer activists from the former Yugoslavian countries gathered together and held a forum for Food Sovereignty. In the UK, a platform for Food Sovereignty was created last summer as well. There are good examples for successful international campaigns, like the Good Food March or worldwide actions on 17th April, on the International Day of  Peasants’ Struggles.